Journal Entry (5/30)

John Fiske, “Shopping for Pleasure”

The author begins with the quote that the “woman’s palace is in the mall” (p 267). It is a place where women feel empowered; they have to power to carve out a space where pleasure, desires, and knowledge and actions are deemed important. Thus, Fiske argues that shopping is an act of cultural resistance. The quote places women as consumers (opposed to homes where homes represent women domestic slavery and site of subordination to demands) and the mall becomes a site of opposition and liberation. Fist says that mall is where women can be public, empowered and free, and occupy roles other than those demanded by nuclear family. Those in some senses, the mall and women are closely associated, and it is a public site where women are able to feel empowered, I still have some disagreements as stereotypes and labeling occurs in malls. The quote itself is already a stereotype that labels women into a category; one where they are always in malls and shopping. However, this is not the case as i believe malls represent popular culture, as women and everyone else in society try to buy and find trends that is popular in society. When i think of malls, i do not just associate it to women; i associate it with the whole society. It is where society goes to buy and look at trends to conform to the popular culture.

John Jordan- “The art of necessity: the subversive imagination of anti-road protest and reclaim the streets”

It was interesting reading about the Reclaim the Streets (RT), a contemporary protest group, and their actions and style of protest. The group popularized a model of political action where the protest itself is a living and breathing political message. The streets were filled with people freely expressing themselves. Jordan notes that it was more of a cultural idea than a material organization. This reminds me of video we saw in class of the flash mobs in India. The people used a popular dance in Indian culture to express their beliefs and message about gays. They used a popular cultural form to catch the public’s attention in order to portray their message. The RT also do the same in their movements. They use DIY protest movements. They demolish the divisions between art and life by introducing creativity, imagination, play and pleasure into a revolutionary project. They broke down the barriers between art and protest. The DIY protests were powerful as it was based on creativity and invisibility of art and artists. This reminded me of Kelley’s article of the McDonald’s workers and their everyday acts of resistance. It reminded me how small and less obvious acts of resistance still make a difference.

Omar’s Presentation

I thought the presentation was interesting and a good change from the normal lecture routines. It was interesting to learn about Omar’s interests and how he uses his ASA knowledge in his work. It was fun learning about the different genres of comedy and his own experiences.